AIDS Matters Comments

Brad: The Challenge of Getting Attention for Global AIDS

nospam@example.com (Brad) — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 09:58:33 -0400

You're absolutely right. Relative to the amount of suffering caused by AIDS, news coverage is practically nonexistant. It's out there for people who are looking hard enough for it, but for the population-at-large it is out of sight and out of mind.

Doing my part,
-Brad

Aaron: Santorum-Durbin Amendment

nospam@example.com (Aaron) — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:52:46 -0400

If you're going to complain about wasted money, complain about George Bush wasting hundreds of billions to strengthen his relationship with his Saudi Arabian oil buddies. Don't complain about spending a measily few hundred million on stopping the spread of a deadly epidemic that we probably invented.

Mcgill: AIDS Blogs

nospam@example.com (Mcgill) — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 10:51:34 -0400

I have read through all the blogs and they are very informative.

Jim Cashel: Santorum-Durbin Amendment

nospam@example.com (Jim Cashel) — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 14:25:25 -0400

Many people feel that spending money on global health is a waste. Fortunately most people see it as effective and appropriate.

jahed: Santorum-Durbin Amendment

nospam@example.com (jahed) — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 00:21:17 -0400

I don't remember telling my Congressmen that they could squander my money away on a piss poor plan to end "Global Aids". Thanks for nothing jerks.

Bernard Rivers: New Name for PEPFAR?

nospam@example.com (Bernard Rivers) — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 11:19:18 -0400

Renaming PEPFAR to APFAR makes a lot of sense. The folks at PEPFAR have struggled valiantly to avoid using the term PEPFAR, but (so they tell me) it's a losing battle. It would be great if they came up with a better name, quickly.

Yes, indeed, PEPFAR identifies itself too closely with the current president. If/when there is a new president from a different party, that president will be much more inclined to continue a depoliticized APFAR than a somewhat politicized PEPFAR.

And as for a web site; they don't just need a new URL; they need a web site that provides a meaningful amount of information about their programs. At present their obscurely-named site only provides about 2% of the information that is available at the Global Fund's site.

Chris Collins: IAS Future Directions Project Review

nospam@example.com (Chris Collins) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:04:33 -0400

Thanks for noting the Future Directions project. The goal of the project is to make recommendations for improvement of International AIDS Conferences based on input from all those who are interested in the Conferences. IAS will be posting draft recommendations on the Future Directions website in July 2005. There will then be a comment period for people to review the recommendations and make suggestions. Ideas from Future Directions will also be fed into the process for planning the upcoming Toronto Conference. Final recommendations, based on this input, will be presented to the IAS Governing Council in November 2005. More information about the project, with background documents, and online forums, is available at www.iasociety.org/futuredirections.

Jody Ranck: Empathy with the Poor

nospam@example.com (Jody Ranck) — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 12:30:42 -0400

The problem with some of these approaches will be the same problem the humanitarian aid industry has encountered in trying to get people to act through use of the media--in the 1990s genocide, war crimes, etc. became a form of infotainment that did not produce a concerted, thoughtful intervention, (eg. Rwanda, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, etc.). A great deal of academic and journalistic work on this phenomenon exists and it would be worthwhile to engage with the problematic relationship that mediatic representations have with social suffering and build constructive alternatives on the basis of these insights

Jim Cashel: Why AIDS is Exceptional

nospam@example.com (Jim Cashel) — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 05:57:35 -0400

You can see the speech here: http://tinyurl.com/6xu2h . A downloadable PDF version is available here: http://www.unaids.org/html/pub/media/speeches02/sp_piot_lse_08feb05_en_pdf.pdf .

Omorebokhae Onomoase David: Why AIDS is Exceptional

nospam@example.com (Omorebokhae Onomoase David) — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 04:39:52 -0400

The importance to be attached to the AIDS pandemic should be more than Nueclear Threat.The impact of AIDS is more than that of Nueclear bomb!

It should not just be a subset of the MDG but it should be another kind of MDG standing on its own! I support totally what Dr Piot said. Can one get the full speech?

Thanks.

David Omorebokhae

Chris: Empathy with the Poor

nospam@example.com (Chris) — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:00:10 -0400

Some resources to try to understand the perspectives of those with fewer resources:

World Bank's Voices of the Poor:
www1.worldbank.org/prem/poverty/voices/listen-findings.htm
and
"Literature of Poverty", formerly from the World Bank, now courtesy of the WayBack Machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/20021201124208/www.worldbank.org/poverty/povlit/index.htm

Thomas: Empathy with the Poor

nospam@example.com (Thomas) — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:28:43 -0400

You are quite right with the catalyst power that an actual exposure to the daily reality of the "bottom billion" could have. Personally, a simple three month stay with a (middle-class) Indian family in Calcutta in 1999 had a tremendous impact on my perspective of what's actually going on. I know a lot of people who have been through similar experiences and what's uniting us that we all made this experience through one of the big youth exchange organisations like AFS, AIESEC and so on. Supporting these organisations could be a very worthwhile endeavour to achieve the correction of perspective.

Dave: Empathy with the Poor

nospam@example.com (Dave) — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:15:15 -0400

I heard a bit on a BBC show yesterday (http://www.theworld.org/latesteditions/04/20050404.shtml) about Global Voices (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/). Creating a megaphone for international blogs might be one approach?

Brad: Empathy with the Poor

nospam@example.com (Brad) — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 08:10:25 -0400

I think you're right. A big part of the civil rights movement in America was sustained by northerners who had never been to the South, but who were made aware of the injustices of the Jim Crow laws, beatings, lynchings, etc. thanks to nightly news reports. If it weren't for that kind of information distribution, it's hard to imagine what would have motivated people in the north to take action.

I wish I knew what the answer was.

positHIV: Global AIDS Blogs

nospam@example.com (positHIV) — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:53:11 -0500

A group at the University of Western Ontario, Western Heads East, is currently carrying out a project in Mwanza, Tanzania. It's a great idea that has incredible potential.
http://posithivaidscrisis.blogspot.com/